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Restorative Justice: How Just is the Philosophy?
The principle of restorative justice was first created as an alternative to the two dominant philosophies of corrections: retribution and rehabilitation. The retributive view of corrections suggests that the purpose of corrections is to punish the offender. The rehabilitative view suggests that the purpose of corrections is to change the character of the offender for the better and prevent future crimes from taking place. Both neglect the needs of the victim, however, which is how the principle of restorative justice arose. According to the Centre for Justice and Reconciliation’s definition of “What is Restorative Justice” (2018), the philosophy: “emphasizes accountability, making amends, and — if they are interested — facilitated meetings between victims, offenders, and other persons.”
For some crimes, the principles of restorative justice would seem to be highly appropriate. A good example of this is vandalism, in which perpetrators are required to clean up their defacement as well as other areas in the affected community. An individual who was convicted of committing arson might be asked to do volunteer work for the fire department or an individual convicted of a minor drug offense might be asked...
These examples demonstrate the principle of restorative justice by ensuring that the punishment helps the victims but also has a teaching function for the person or persons who experienced the harm.
For juvenile offenders, who are not treated the same as adult offenders and who are part of a system of justice which is primarily designed to rehabilitate the offender, regardless of the offense, restorative justice seems particularly appropriate. “Restorative justice does not seek to alienate or isolate people who commit crimes, but instead to offer community support that will allow the person who harmed to successfully meet her obligations to the victim” (Nusrat, 2013, par. 5). Isolating juveniles from the community because of the crimes they commit may be particularly harmful and simply make them more likely to commit crimes in the future and identify with the persona of a criminal, versus a law-abiding citizen.
On the other hand, other uses of restorative justice are more controversial. A good example of this is the idea of victim (or victim’s family) and perpetrator meeting to discuss the crime. A rape victim might not wish to reencounter the man who hurt her. “This dialogue is intended for the victim to identify his…
References
Nusrat, N. (2013). What is—and is not—restorative justice? National Centre for Crime and Delinquency. Retrieved form: https://www.nccdglobal.org/newsroom/nccd-blog/what- and-not-restorative-justice
What is restorative justice? (2018). Centre for Justice and Reconciliation. Retrieved from: http://restorativejustice.org/#sthash.Zpiqhc3d.fnSlqRx5.dpbs
However the law demands that the course of action should be experimented, and evaluated on the grounds that if they are reasonable, restorative, and respectful. The offenders should comply by the standards of safety, values, ethics, responsibility, accountability and civility. The offenders should be exposed to the same nature of crime experienced by the victims, and should be provided with the chance of learning empathy. Such an offender should
Org) Restorative justice is not necessarily conservative in orientation, although this definition may make it seem so. It also focuses on transforming the traditional relationship between communities and their governments in responding to crime. It focuses on victim mediation and conferencing between convicted criminals and victims, and stresses the need to create opportunities for victims, offenders and community members to meet to discuss the crime and its aftermath, and the need
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Restorative Justice in Education." In other words, how effective does the use of critical theory prove to be when applied to restorative justice in education? Author Dorothy Vaandering uses a logic and flow-driven narrative, which is informative and leaves a distinct impression that she has provided a worthwhile study for examination. What is restorative justice? Vaandering explains that restorative justice (RJ) is a process that eschews "punitive, managerial structures" in
Restorative Justice Approaches Reduce Youth Offending Restorative justice is a new paradigm within the criminal justice, particularly in the context of youth offenders. The philosophy behind restorative justice is to consider the juvenile's interests to develop them into beneficial citizens, and it augments the principle behind juvenile justice and corrections. Restorative justice approaches provide the juvenile justice system with leniency when approaching youth offenders while at the same time holding
Correctional System: Three different approaches and philosophies to the problem of crime The three philosophical cornerstones of the corrections system are retribution, rehabilitation, and restoration. However, while most modern theorists of criminal justice believe that there must be some proportion of these elements in all forms of punishment, not all believe that they must be present to the same degree. This paper will advance the idea that ultimately the concepts of